Tag Archives: Jen Sar Kiladi’s fishing

Ghost Ship – Chapter 43

Ghost Ship – Chapter 6

Surebleak Spaceport

In which cold Surebleak offers Delm Korval a warm welcome.

Jen Sar Kiladi has “been lost”, which might add to the awkwardness if Kamele ever takes it into her head to demand his safe return. One might say that it offers instead the opportunity to tell Kamele, with some degree of accuracy, that Kiladi has died, but I don’t think that would work for long and in any case I’m confident Daav knows as well as Theo does that he owes Kamele the whole truth. His reluctance to tell her so far has been about trying to spare her the further trouble of being dragged into Korval’s orbit at a dangerous time, not about shirking his duty.

It does raise the question of why Kiladi has slipped away. Perhaps he felt, or whatever part of Daav keeps him working, that he’d served his purpose: Daav has said more than once that he’s completed the Balance in which Kiladi was such a useful tool, and he’s also fulfilled his original purpose in the sense that he was only supposed to stick around until he was discovered, which he now has been. And letting go of Kiladi presumably means there’s more room in Daav’s head for Aelliana. But I find myself remembering that Aelliana’s most striking recent increase in ability was associated with Daav eating one of the Tree’s seed pods, and wondering: Did Kiladi-Daav make the decision that Kiladi’s time was done, or was the decision made for him?

That’s an intriguing background detail, the hint at friction between the Pilots’ Guild and the Federated Trade Commission. I don’t think we’ve heard of the Federated Trade Commission before, at least by that name; perhaps it’s descended from the trade commission that was around in Jethri’s time. I’m tempted to speculate, on the basis of no evidence whatever, that it’s a Terran organisation that takes issue with the Pilots’ Guild because, as we know, the latter is a case of harmonious collaboration between Terrans and Liadens. But then again, we know from various bits with Shan that he was certified as a Master Trader by a Trade Commission that is likewise a collaboration. (I’m sufficiently attached to my hypothesis to wonder if there’s more than one Trade Commission. Perhaps the Federated Trade Commission is a smaller federation of traders who don’t want to be involved in anything that requires collaboration with Liadens. But now I’m really speculating.)

Saltation – Chapter 38

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Conference Room Able
Pilots Guildhall
Volmer

In which the bad news keeps on coming.

Caratunk is a planet we’ve heard of before: it’s where Jethri’s father met Iza Gobelyn.

And we heard about that in the same chapter which first informed us that “there are secrets in all families”, a phrase that’s associated with a particular family, and a particular person who is likely to be the same person Win Ton is on his way to meet. It amuses me that he’s implicitly included in Win Ton’s reference last chapter to unspecified people “even less reputable” than Scouts or Juntavas.

The fact that Win Ton was at Nev’lorn when the fighting broke out is interesting, and offers an additional reason for the Department to have decided the time was right for overt action. (And prompts one to wonder what might have happened if he and Daav had encountered each other there.)

And now the bad news from home has caught up with Theo, having been somewhat delayed by Kamele’s lack of familiarity with the options for sending an urgent message long-distance to a person in motion. There’s an irony here: Theo does know where to find her father – or would, if she had the means to link together several things she’s learned recently – but, lacking those means, she doesn’t know that she knows.

Breath’s Duty

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Delgado
Leafydale Place
Standard Year 1393

In which Scout Reserve Captain Daav yos’Phelium returns a favour.

Speaking of first published appearances, this is Kamele’s, brief as it is, and it gave me entirely the wrong impression of her until Fledgling came out. I blame the translators’ decision to use “mistress” as a substitute for whatever word they use on Delgado, because while it has the advantage of bypassing a lengthy explanation it fails to capture the actual spirit of Kamele’s relationship with Jen Sar. On the other hand, I admit there were also some failings of comprehension on my part, regarding (a) the actual likelihood of Daav getting in the kind of relationship that “mistress” implies, and (b) the fact, which is mentioned right there in the story, that they’ve been together long enough for her daughter to be grown up.

This may also be, even more briefly, the first published mention of timonioum.

One of the purposes of this re-read was to see what new associations would come out of the stories by reading them in a different configuration: what would come out of a story by reading it near another story I maybe hadn’t read it near before? In this case, a new thing that struck me was the first dissonant detail: after a couple of pages of Jen Sar Kiladi getting ready for a fishing trip, just as he always does, he pauses to run through the Rainbow pattern. Reading the story so soon after Carpe Diem, with everything it has to say about the Rainbow and about the Rainbow being a Scout thing, that really jumped out at me as a sign that Professor Kiladi isn’t the groundhugging academic he appears. It says, if one didn’t already know, a great deal about his background in a very few words.

Another association that I don’t think I picked up before this re-read is that Acting Scout Commander sig’Radia has the same surname as Senior Scout Cho sig’Radia, the friend and mentor of Daav’s daughter. Probably a relative, not the same person; “Phoenix” has established that sig’Radia has a history of producing Scouts, and this story says straight up that Daav doesn’t know her. (I wonder, though: I don’t think Kiladi ever actually met Cho sig’Radia other than through written correspondence, and if he did notice the connection Daav wouldn’t make anything of it while he’s keeping the Kiladi connection quiet; conversely, of course, Cho sig’Radia knows Theo’s father only as Kiladi and has no reason to suspect he’s Daav. And one who was a Senior Scout a few years ago might have progressed far enough to become Acting Scout Commander now — especially since the “Acting” suggests that the Department’s recent actions have resulted in some rapid movement in the line of succession.)

I’m pretty sure I got the significance of the Richard A. Davis Portmaster Aid Foundation first time, though.

I seem to recall there being something I wanted to say about the bit where L’il Orbit casts shade on Kiladi’s piloting skills, but the only thing that’s coming to mind now is that it was never Kiladi, in the old days, who was called “schoolteacher”. And that there’s a bit of an irony in Daav yos’Phelium being named as a reliable pilot considering what happened the last time he was seen piloting a spaceship.

Fledgling – Chapter 42

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Number Twelve Leafydale Place
Greensward-by-Efraim
Delgado

In which Theo turns fifteen.

This is one of those cases where I don’t feel inspired to talk about any of the things I might have talked about if I were reading the novel for the first time, and there weren’t many new things I noticed. Although I did notice this time Jen Sar’s fishing trip in the mountains, which I suspect was at least partly intended to lay a foundation for a tale to tell anyone who asks where the idea of the old-style Gigneri came from.

I will note that this is another novel I like more after this re-read than I thought I did after I read it the first time.

It’s not easy to establish precisely when Fledgling takes place, due to a lack of outside referents. From Theo’s age we know that it’s more than fifteen years since Jen Sar came to Delgado at the end of Mouse and Dragon — but, as Theo points out in this chapter, that’s Delgadan years, and we have no indication of whether those are longer or shorter than Standard Years, let alone by how much. All we can say with confidence is that it’s after Jen Sar’s last scene in Mouse and Dragon and before his first appearance in Plan B. (The suggested reading order by internal chronology on the authors’ web site places Fledgling after Plan B, but that’s a clear case of bending chronology for the good of the story flow and reading experience, making it in effect an entire novel-length flashback; there is no possible way Jen Sar’s scenes in Plan B happen before Fledgling.) The positions I’ve given Fledgling and Saltation in this re-read are approximations achieved by starting at the end of Saltation and counting backwards based on my memory of what occurs in them; I’m taking notes as I re-read and hopefully I’ll end up with a less approximate idea of how much time they cover. (But when I publish my own suggested reading order by internal chronology at the end of the re-read, it’s likely I’ll be adopting the strategy of bending chronology for the good of the story flow and reading experience, the good sense of which becomes more apparent to me the further the re-read progresses.)

Tomorrow: Saltation

Fledgling – Chapter 27

Fledgling – Chapter 18

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University of Delgado
Faculty Residence Wall
Quadrant Eight, Building Two

In which Kamele has unexpected news for Theo.

Back when Kamele messaged Theo to stay in the apartment and not open the door to anyone, and didn’t explain why, Theo complained about Kamele not sharing important information. I think she had a point, and I think she’d also have a point if she made the same complaint now. The announcement of the impending journey is a shock, and very sudden, but I’m not convinced it needed to be; Kamele could have laid groundwork about it being a possibility even if she wasn’t sure yet exactly when it would be. And while it’s possible that she’s playing her cards close to her chest because of the genuine need to keep the details of her investigation under wraps, what worries me is the possibility that she’s doing it because on some level she’s still thinking of Theo as a child to be arbitrarily ordered around, rather than a nearly-adult who will work better if she’s given an explanation of why the order is necessary. Technically, yes, Theo is still officially a child, but people don’t magically become responsible adults when they reach society’s official milestone; if Kamele wants Theo to behave like a mature adult, at some point she’s going to have to start treating her like one.

The Serpent of Knowledge icon on the research application is an interesting thing in that it’s a meaningful symbol both to the characters and to the reader, but means different things to each. Whatever legend they have on Delgado about Serpents and Knowledge, it doesn’t seem from Theo’s reaction that it implies anything negative; to a reader who shares the authors’ cultural background, though, the obvious reference is to the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, offering people knowledge they’re not entitled to and might be better off without, giving the situation sinister undertones that are not visible to or intended by the characters.

Fledgling – Chapter 7

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Retrospection on an Introduction
Chancellor’s Welcome Reception for the Gallowglass Chair
Lenzen Ballroom, Administration Tower Three
University of Delgado

In which Kamele met Jen Sar.

The Chancellor’s reception is one of a small number of scenes that appear in more than one place in the series, from more than one perspective. Comparing Kamele’s version here with Jen Sar’s version in Mouse and Dragon is an interesting exercise, for the things they see differently, and especially the things which are unexplained in one and matter-of-factly explained in the other. (It also, unfortunately, shows that nobody warned the copy-editor of the latter book what was going on; not everybody makes the transition from one version to the other with spelling intact.)

Fledgling – Chapter 2

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University of Delgado
Faculty Residence Wall
Quadrant Eight, Building Two

In which Kamele and Theo — and Coyster — arrive in their new lodgings.

When I first read Fledgling, Kamele Waitley came as a complete surprise to me. In retrospect, this seems short-sighted even to myself, but it must be remembered that, Theo having said nothing about her mother in I Dare, the only previous reference to her was in “Breath’s Duty”, and that only a brief mention of an unnamed woman whom the authors, lacking space for a more complete explanation, chose to describe as Professor Kiladi’s mistress. That entirely misleading word, combined with the apparent equanimity with which Kiladi took leave of her (which with hindsight I can see as a Liaden presenting a calm face to an unpleasant necessity), produced in me an impression that left me entirely unprepared for Scholar Waitley, Jen Sar Kiladi’s friend and life-partner, when Fledgling presented her full-formed.

In this chapter Theo, who has lived her entire life in Kiladi’s house out in the suburbs, is not adjusting easily to the standard of accommodation in the Faculty Residence Wall. I suspect that Kamele is having similar difficulty, and it’s contributing to her mood; although, if memory serves, she lived in the Wall her whole life before she met Kiladi, she has also lived Theo’s entire life in Kiladi’s house, and young as Theo is that’s plenty of time to have acclimated to a new way of living.

This being a re-read, I know what prompted Kamele to move back to the Wall, and can see that her response to Theo’s question about it contains an actual answer carefully set in a false context constructed from statements that are each true in general but not actually relevant to the particular situation under discussion. (Notice how some of the time she’s talking about what “a scholar” can or should do, and only very briefly about herself specifically.)

Fledgling – Chapter 1

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Number Twelve Leafydale Place
Greensward-by-Efraim
Delgado

In which Theo Waitley has to leave home.

A new novel, and a new character — and also some old ones, as Theo’s parents are Kamele Waitley and Jen Sar Kiladi, who we last saw newly-acquainted at the end of Mouse and Dragon.

Part of the interest of reading Fledgling the first time, for me, was seeing the way the authors expanded on hints about Kiladi’s life on Delgado that had been given in other stories written earlier but set later: Kiladi’s office; Theo; the family tradition about Delm Korval, which is rather different and somewhat more complicated than the first-published mention of it suggested… and Kamele Waitley, who was honestly a complete surprise to me (for reasons I think I’ll save for when she actually appears).

This chapter also contains the first mentions of several new details about Delgado that will continue to unfold over the course of the novel, including the Office of Safety, the Chapelia, and the matriarchal system in which Theo is her mother’s daughter and Jen Sar’s relationship with them both continues only so long as Kamele chooses to continue it.

With the benefit of knowing what’s coming, I can see and appreciate the clever dance the authors have done to distract the reader from the fact that we’re not shown where Coyster went at the end of the chapter.

Am I alone in really wanting to read those books on Theo’s shelf?

Reading Liad

from Dragon Tide to Dragon Ship, and beyond